Adrián Campos has praised both Théophile Naël and Ugo Ugochukwu, for their performance in the 2026 F3 Australian GP Round in Melbourne.
Ugochukwu achieved his maiden Formula 3 victory in Sunday’s 2026 F3 Feature Race after qualifying in P2 on Friday at the Australian GP for Campos Racing. The American claimed the win with a superb drive, building a commanding advantage and running more than seven seconds clear of the field at one stage of the race.
Naël, meanwhile, started from pole position after setting the fastest time in Friday’s Qualifying session and spent much of the race chasing his Campos Racing teammate. However, a five-second penalty for a false start dropped the Frenchman to P12 in the final classification.
For Campos, the outcome left mixed emotions across the weekend. While he was delighted to see the team secure victory, missing out on a potential 1-2 finish meant valuable championship points slipped away.
“It was a great race,” he said. “I mean we can’t complain. To be honest, we were very confident of getting the one-two with both of our drivers.“
“But I think it was an extremely strict, or on the limit, penalty for Theo. It took away our chances of having both drivers on the podium. But still, it’s still a win.“
“I think, if I’m not wrong, we are leading the championship with Ugo. So it could have been a lot better, but still we can’t complain. We can celebrate this result.”
Ugochukwu’s winter break performance
Ugochukwu has enjoyed an outstanding winter ahead of the Formula 3 season. In January, he travelled to New Zealand to compete in the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy (CTFROT), where he claimed multiple victories on his way to securing the championship.
The American has also shown strong pace throughout the post-season and pre-season tests with Campos Racing. That form carried into Melbourne, where he topped Free Practice by 0.427s.
He also looked poised to claim pole position at the F3 Australian GP for Campos before a late lap from Naël in the closing seconds secured the top spot for the French driver.
For Campos, Ugochukwu’s form has come as no surprise. The team principal believes both drivers showed promising signs last season and are now delivering the performances the team expected when signing them for 2026.
“That’s what we are expecting from them all season,” he said. “This is why we worked so hard during the winter, and we are very confident that it’s not only here, it will be like this the rest of the year.“
“We want to continue on from what was happening last year. We ended up winning in Monza, and now we are continuing winning here. So hopefully we will extend this for a bit longer.”
The start of Campos’ 2025 season
Campos also reflected on the team’s difficult start to the 2025 campaign in Melbourne.
“Last year here in F3, we didn’t start well. We had some issues in qualifying which compromised the whole weekend, and then we had a very wet last race.”
“So it was not what we were expecting, but we knew the potential was there and the results were going to come.”
“But again, we want to be strong throughout the entire season, not just here and we will work as hard as we can. So let’s see what happens at the end of the year.”
History could also be on Ugochukwu’s side. In six of the previous seven Formula 3 seasons, the eventual Drivers’ Champion has won a race during the opening round. The only exception came in 2021, when Leonardo Fornaroli did not win in the first round.
When asked whether this statistic was a positive sign for Ugochukwu and Campos in 2026, Campos responded with a laugh.“We should not change that then. It’s something that we need to respect. If it’s like this, we respect it.”
